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time-management (how to optimize your time)
- 3. Learning objectives Why is time management important? Prioritising your time Procrastination and how to avoid it Techniques to manage your time better
- 4. Why is time management important?
- 5. Why is time management important? Time is precious and finite We need to use it in the most productive way Poor time management skills has serious consequences - For our organisation - For our customers - For your team - For you personally
- 6. What are the consequences? Organization You & Your Team • Missed deadlines • Budget overruns • Reputation damage • Drop in sales • Fines • Loss of contracts Customers • Negative experience • Loss of trust and confidence • Missed targets • Persistent lateness • Disciplinary action • Blame game • Interpersonal conflict • Perceived unfairness • Stress • Loss of trust in team
- 7. “Failing to plan is planning to fail” • Meticulous planning can make all the difference • How do you really spend your time? • Use apps and tracking tools
- 8. Opinion: Increased risk? Too much analysis can lead to paralysis. I prefer not to plan anything. You need to be flexible to cope with unforeseen events. Planning is important but there’s no need to overdo it. Poor planning can be disastrous. It can lead to the wrong people working on the wrong task - so you don't play to your strengths. Everything feels disorganised,.
- 9. Activity You are going to a 3-day trip to the desert. Plan your trip
- 10. Time management techniques Prioritising your time The 80/20 rule Multi-tasking Just get it done! To Do lists Pomodoro Technique® Preventing procrastination
- 11. Prioritizing with the important/urgent matrix • List all tasks • Decide whether they are important or urgent • Plot them on the matrix • Use the labels to assign priorities
- 12. 80/20 rule - The Pareto principle • 80% of your most important work can be completed in 20% of the available time • Unforeseen problems can cause difficulty and impact on your schedule • Sometimes, the outstanding 20% of work can absorb 80% of your time • Focus on the 80% first to improve productivity
- 13. Multi-tasking “…the ability to undertake multiple tasks at the same time with competence…” • Multi-tasking works for tasks that can be completed simultaneously • But too much multi-tasking can be distracting, it can lead to paralysis and inertia
- 14. Just get it done! Get on with finishing what’s been started Prioritises task completion Prevents build-up of incomplete activities
- 15. To Do lists Where you need to focus on accomplishment To Do lists can be refined by prioritising activities
- 20. You make the call: Advantage or disadvantage? To do lists can stop creativity, only what’s on the list gets done They give a feeling of control and achievement, motivating you They help structure your thoughts and provide a sense of purpose Advantage Disadvantage Advantage Disadvantage Advantage Disadvantage
- 21. Pomodoro Technique® • A burst of activity for 25-minute intervals, followed by a 5-minute break • Aids concentration and reduces interruptions
- 22. Don’t procrastinate What is it? • “…putting off the activities or tasks that are most important and should really be completed right away in favour of those that you find most interesting or comfortable...” • However, note that putting off unimportant tasks does not constitute procrastination and is, in fact, desirable.
- 23. Don’t procrastinate Signs of procrastination •Filling your day with non-important activities and tasks •Leaving important work on your To Do list for too long •Waiting for the 'right time' or the 'right mood' before you get started •Reading and re-reading emails or reports, without planning what action to take or actioning them right away •Starting work on an urgent or important task, and then leaving your desk immediately for refreshments •Picking up unimportant tasks even though you have more pressing work to do
- 24. Don’t procrastinate Reasons • The top reasons for procrastination are: •Disorganisation - not feeling ready to get started •Perfectionism - wanting to do it perfectly first time •Feeling overwhelmed or daunted by the activity or task - a fear of failure or concern about your ability •It's unpleasant - putting off delivering difficult feedback to a colleague or discussing late payment with a client
- 25. Nine Ways to Overcome Procrastination Delete Delegate Do it Ask for advice Chop it up 15 minute rule Clear deadline Reward Remove distractions
- 26. Do Take regular breaks to stay alert Be proactive – know how you spend your time and when you are most productive Only prioritise what is important and urgent, act promptly if you see signs of procrastination Use different techniques to improve your time management skills Report any problems or concerns immediately to your manager
- 27. Don’t Focus on activities or tasks that aren’t important or urgent Be distracted by technology - e.g. email, social media, internet browsing Allow others to steal your time - plan and rehearse strategies for dealing with interruptions Waste time in meetings - only invite those who need to attend, consider holding stand-up meetings, set an agenda etc.
Editor's Notes
- In this session we’ll look at: Why is time management important? Prioritising your time Procrastination and how to avoid it Techniques to manage your time better
- Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course? The Bank of TIME Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest. It carries over no balance from the day before. It allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns what remains of the day.
- Why is time management important? [Allow delegates time to consider this and make suggestions before clicking Next.] Time is precious and finite (there’s a limit to how much we have). So, we need to make sure that we use it in the most productive way. Poor time management skills has serious consequences: For our organisation For our customers For your team For you personally
- What are the consequences for our organisation, customers, your team, and you personally? [Allow time for discussion before clicking next and discussing the negative impact on each group.] For our organisation: Missed deadlines Budget overruns Reputation damage Drop in sales Fines Loss of contracts For our customers: Negative experience Loss of trust and confidence For your team/you personally: Missed targets Persistent lateness Disciplinary action Blame game Interpersonal conflict Perceived unfairness Loss of trust in team members Stress
- What can we do about it? How is it that some airlines and train companies operate all their services smoothly while others are dogged with problems? Ever heard the saying, “Failing to plan is planning to fail”? Could it be that meticulous planning makes all the difference? Start by analysing how you really spend your time? There are a variety of apps and tools that can assist you here to find out: Are you in control? Or are you at the mercy of others? What do you spend most time on? Is it on tasks that are productive or the things that matter? Or not? Do you actively manage your time?
- [Hold a discussion with delegates, canvassing opinion before continuing. What do you think? Which one are you?]
- So what techniques can you use to make better use of your time? Here are our top suggestions: Prioritise your time The 80/20 rule Multi-tasking Just get it done! To Do lists Preventing procrastination Pomodoro Technique®
- You can prioritise your time using the important/urgent matrix. [Hold a discussion first to check awareness before clicking next and explaining further.] Here’s what you need to do: First, list all the tasks and activities you’re working on right now Then, decide whether they are important or urgent Urgent tasks are those that require your immediate attention, while important tasks are those with an outcome linked to your own goals or targets. What's important is not always urgent and vice versa. Once you’ve rated each activity, you can plot them on the matrix. The labels – Manage, Focus, Avoid and Limit – help you decide what your priorities should be and on which tasks you should invest most effort.
- The 80/20 rule (or Pareto Principle) is another strategy that you can use to improve your time management. According to this rule, 80% of your most important work can be completed in 20% of the available time. It is the unforeseen problems that can cause most difficulty and impact adversely on your schedule. Indeed the outstanding 20% of work can soon start to absorb 80% of your time, if you let it. By getting on with the least troublesome tasks (the 80%) first, you can get a good head start, and improve delegation and productivity into the bargain.
- Multi-tasking - the ability to undertake multiple tasks at the same time with competence - is another strategy that can improve time management in certain roles or circumstances. Multi-tasking works well for tasks that are similar and can be completed simultaneously – for example, assembling goods for despatch in a warehouse. But, too much multi-tasking can be distracting – it can lead to paralysis and inertia, as more and more time is spent planning instead of working. To resolve this, you need to reduce the number of pending tasks.
- Sometimes the best approach is to concentrate on finishing tasks that have already been started. The "Get it done!" approach to time management prioritises the completion of tasks and prevents the build-up of too many incomplete ones.
- If you need to focus on accomplishment - ticking off and completing tasks - a To Do list can be invaluable. It records all your priorities in one place (whether online or on paper) and tracks what progress you are making. [Canvas opinion to gauge awareness and discuss the pros and cons. Then, use the information below to explain and clarify how they work or have one delegate explain it to others who aren’t familiar with the technique.] The To Do list can be further refined by prioritising the activities on the list. Here’s what happens: List all the activities you have to carry out as you think of them Allocate a letter or number to each activity - say, A for tasks that are urgent or very important, and F for those that are least important and not at all urgent Look at your list. If you have lots of A-rated activities, rethink the priority of each one. Are they all really that important and urgent? Rewrite your list in order of priority (from A to F), grouping tasks of similar priority together
- Look at this example and decide whether it is Advantage or Disadvantage. [Show each one in turn and allow time for reading before clicking Next.] To Do lists help structure your thoughts and can also be also motivational - ticking off activities gives you a sense of achievement and purpose. But, on the downside, a rigid To Do list can skew your focus and stifle creativity, as your focus is narrow - only what’s on the list gets done.
- This time-management tool was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. Essentially a timer is set at 25-minute intervals, known as pomodori (Italian for 'tomatoes’), resulting in a burst of activity. Each interval is separated by a five-minute break, which aids concentration. After 4 pomodori (or a set), you take a longer 15-minute break. According to supporters, these breaks give you the opportunity to consolidate what you've learnt and also reduce the impact of interruptions. Of course, you can also use the breaks to check your email, talk to colleagues, move around to avoid posture problems if you are using a keyboard and so on.
- Have you ever heard Benjamin Franklin's saying, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today"? This sums up procrastination. What is it? “…putting off the activities or tasks that are most important and should really be completed right away in favour of those that you find most interesting or comfortable...” However, note that putting off unimportant tasks does not constitute procrastination and is, in fact, desirable.
- Here's what you should do to help manage your time: Take regular breaks to stay alert Be proactive – know how you spend your time and when you are most productive Only prioritise what is important and urgent, and act promptly if you see signs of procrastination Use different techniques to improve your time management skills Report any problems or concerns immediately to your manager